Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should definitely re-watch it at some point. Anyway, I really loved the damned thing. Indeed, after all those American Pie clones and other weak and underwhelming high-school comedies, we might forgot how it was to be in our late teens. Those movies may be entertaining (most aren't though) but they are always completely unrealistic. In my opinion, ‘Ghost World’ was a massive wake up call and send me right back in the reality which was pretty awesome. Back then, Thora Birch, who was playing the lead here, was quite popular, especially following ‘American Beauty’, but this movie would be her last interesting movie and she has pretty much disappeared since then. On the other hand, it was one of the 1^st high-profile projects for Scarlett Johansson and, even though she was there only as a supporting character, she would have eventually a much more impressive career than Birch after all. Anyway, the 2 girls gave some really solid performances and they had a great chemistry together. Later on, my sister would give me the comic-book as a gift, it also became of the my favorites and this movie was definitely really faithful to the original comic-book. Anyway, I really loved the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.        

I already saw this movie (In fact, I’m pretty sure I actually saw the damned thing in the movie theater when it was released), but since it was such a long time ago, I was quite eager to check it out again. Marc Foster was, in my opinion, one of the most interesting directors back then and, if I recall it correctly, it was in fact the first movie I have seen directed by him. Unfortunately, ever since  ‘Quantum of Solace’ turned out to be arguably the weakest James Bond flick starring Daniel Craig, I’m afraid his career took a nosedive and it has been while since he has done something impressive which is too bad because, before that, his track-record was actually pretty much flawless. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though it doesn’t seem to have such a great reputation nowadays, I thought it was a strong story with some solid directing and some top-notch acting. In fact, after all these years, was it perhaps the only very good performance by Halle Berry? I mean, I do believe that she was and still is one of the most beautiful actresses in the world but, except for this movie, for which she was the first and still only African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, she hasn’t done anything really impressive, I’m afraid. Finally, I shouldn’t forget to mention Billy Bob Thornton who maybe didn’t win an Academy Award at the time but the guy still did deliver one of his best performances here. Anyway, to conclude, in my opinion, it was and still is a fascinating tale about two broken souls falling in love with each other and it think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was really eager to check it out again. I have to admit that I still have to check most of Robert Altman’s older movies but from all the movies I have seen directed by this master so far, it remains by far my favourite one. It seems to be a little bit forgotten nowadays but I think it’s a shame because it is actually quite a spellbinding thriller. Eventually, since it was a big critical success at the time, it launched a new successful phase for this director, a phase which lasted until the end of his career. To be honest, after re-watching the damned thing, even if I still liked it, I have to admit that I was slightly less impressed than 20 years ago. I mean, the story was still terribly entertaining, I loved the directing but, eventually, I had a hard time to care about the characters this time around. I mean, the characters were entertaining enough but, eventually, not really interesting after all and actually barely defined. The best example would be June Gudmundsdottir, played by the lovely Greta Scacchi. Indeed, why would this intriguing woman would fall for such a weasel? Eventually, in my opinion, her behaviour seemed to be more plot-driven than actually really organic. Anyway, to conclude, I still think it is underrated gem and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Robert Altman’s work.

It has been a while since I have seen this movie and I should really re-watch it at some point. On the other hand, I’m not sure if the whole thing would have the same impact if I knew what was going to happen. Anyway, I remember very well the first time I saw the damned thing. Indeed, somehow, I really didn’t know at all what it was about, I certainly didn’t know anything about the infamous twist occurring  halfway through and I really didn’t see it coming at all. I remember it as if it was yesterday, I was with my one of my best buddies (who actually sadly passed away in 2016) and when the whole thing took place, we looked at each other completely flabbergasted (WTF?!?!) about what we just saw. It’s rather funny because I actually never really liked the usual twists in most of the thrillers but this one was, for me, completely unexpected.  Basically, it is really weird movie which cannot be classified and it is is Neil Jordan's best movie so far. Indeed, the story was just really fascinating and so unexpected. The less you know about it, the more you will enjoy it. To conclude, I think it is one of the most fascinating thrillers ever made and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick but I remember it so well. Indeed, I was so blown away by the whole thing and it became right away one of my all-time favorite movies. Back then, Harvey Keitel and Abel Ferrara were probably at the best of their career. I remember when I watched it (I was like 16 years old), I think I never saw anything similar before. Indeed, the tone was so dark, immoral, it displayed absolutely no mercy towards its main character and,  yet, it was just so fascinating to behold. After being completely blown away by this movie, I became a huge fan of Abel Ferrara’s work and I tried to watch all his movies but, unfortunately, everything he made after ‘The Funeral’ became increasingly obscure and usually rather underwhelming. Anyway, eventually, 17 years later, Werner Herzorg came up with the bizarre idea of remaking this movie and, even though it was maybe not as awesome as Ferrara’s version, it was still a really good movie and easily the best thing starring Nicolas Cage during the last 10 years. To conclude, even though it is an acquired taste, I think it is a fascinating bleak picture and I think it is definitely worth a look, at least if you don't mind a depressing movie.

[Link removed - login to see]Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Paul Reubens, Rutger Hauer, Luke Perry, Hilary Swank, David Arquette, Ben Affleck, Alexis Arquette, Seth Green, Ricki Lake). Anyway, the whole thing turned to be really lame... I don’t know, apparently,  Joss Whedon claimed that they completely ruined his vision and 5 years later, he would launch another version as a TV show which would turn out to quite successful. To be honest, I never really understood the appeal of this TV show but this early version was deservedly a commercial and critical failure.  Anyway, I thought it was just a terrible movie. Even the great Donald Sutherland couldn't save this mess. On the positive side, you could see Ben Affleck in a (very) small part and there was even Hilary Swank but she is far from her Academy award winning parts... To conclude, I didn’t care for this movie at all, it was completely underwhelming and it is definitely not worth a look. 

Nowadays, Disney is pretty much ruling the box-office with their live-action fairy tales, Pixar, Marvel and soon Star Wars but some of their other features, especially their live action features like this one, usually used to tank pretty bad at the box-office. With this in mind, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Charlize Theron, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I really like Charlize Theron but this was some pretty average stuff. Apparently, it was a remake of a very old movie from the end of the 40’s but, in fact, I thought the whole thing was actually a massive King-Kong rip-off. I’ll give you that, it is rather well done, with some decent special effects but I thought it was all terribly generic. Basically, it has already been done before and they didn't add anything new to the formula so I thought it was pretty boring. Concerning Charlize Theron, she made this movie at the beginning of her career and I guess we shouldn’t blame her as we all have to start somewhere but I would be really surprised if she would do something similar again later on during her career.  To conclude, it is an average Disney feature but I have to admit that it might be enjoyable for the kids between 9 and 12 years old.